What is essential for a successful DMO (Destination Management Organization)?

DMOs emphasize strategically defining the target unit, fostering collaboration between government and private sectors, and advancing initiatives through consensus-building among diverse stakeholders. This core essence significantly overlaps with place branding.

While DMOs focus on establishing formal organizations and management structures, place branding demands the ability to create loose networks among diverse actors. Rather than pure management skills, it requires the directional capability to steer efforts toward a shared vision. This may be the key difference.

Case Study of a DMO Initiative: The "Land of Suwa" Project

Let's examine an initiative in Nagano Prefecture's Suwa region that aimed to establish a regional collaborative DMO. The Suwa region comprises six municipalities: Suwa City, Okaya City, Shimosuwa Town, Chino City, Fujimi Town, and Hara Village.

The region faced challenges due to limited inter-municipal collaboration, resulting in fragmented initiatives across different areas. Furthermore, the core assets differed between the area centered around Lake Suwa and the area centered around Mount Yatsugatake, creating a difficult background for integration.

Therefore, taking the opportunity of the Onbashira Festival—a major festival held every seven years that represents the region—efforts began to create a unified brand. To break down barriers between areas, we engaged in repeated dialogue with people from each locality and developed the Suwa region's brand concept.

To us outsiders, this region was brimming with mysterious and wondrous things and events. During the Onbashira Festival, the four shrines of Suwa Taisha, which surround the Suwa region, perform a sacred ritual where the entire town unites to manually bring down 16 pillars from the mountains, transport them to each shrine, and erect four pillars at each.

Meanwhile, in Chino City, you can see the charming yet slightly eerie Jomon Venus, a clay figurine from the Jomon period.

Other attractions include the perilous floating tea house "Takasugi-an," and Okaya City's silk thread production, offering a glimpse into the mystical process between nature and human hands—how thread is spun from silkworms.

Furthermore, Lake Suwa freezes over in winter, occasionally cracking with audible sounds. Locals interpret this natural phenomenon as traces left by the gods crossing the ice, calling it "Omivatari" (Divine Crossing).

From an outsider's perspective, the Suwa region began to feel like a "unique land brimming with mystical tales." Based on this emerging brand concept, a logo combining the three symbols representing the area – "Lake Suwa," "Onbashira," and "Mount Yatsugatake" – was created by a local designer, launching the "Land of Suwa" project.

Shortly after the project began, a happy coincidence occurred. At that very moment, a group of young entrepreneurs were planning initiatives to revitalize the Suwa region. Recognizing shared concerns, we decided to collaborate.

The first initiative was Yatsugatake's "fresh corn." A young farmer who had returned to Hara Village began selling "corn sweeter than melon." A Suwa native running a restaurant in Tokyo developed sweets using this corn as an ingredient. Shingo Fujimori, also from Suwa, promoted these products.

"Yatsugatake Fresh Corn" – First Brand Certified by "Suwa no Kuni"

Sweets made with "Yatsugatake Fresh Corn"

The passionate dedication of Suwa natives resonated with journalists, leading to extensive media coverage. Naturally, sales of "fresh corn" were excellent, and momentum grew for the spontaneous creation of second and third new "Land of Suwa" content. Building on this solid foundation, establishing a DMO in the future is expected to proceed smoothly.

*For details, please see the Dentsu Inc . News.

Avoid "rushing into a DMO" and instead focus on building a solid foundation through "place branding thinking."

While still a work in progress, this is the case study of the "Land of Suwa" project. By deciphering local assets and connecting with young entrepreneurs, compelling content is created and disseminated, yielding successful experiences. Did you sense the essence of this self-sustaining, place-driven branding?

Finally, let's return to the topic of the Japanese-style DMO. Certainly, when various private companies bring their specialized skills together, high-level services may be expected.

However, I feel something is missing if that's all we do. The approach to challenges might become superficial, leaning toward standardized solutions, potentially ending without discovering the place's unique character.

Therefore, what I propose is to incorporate "place branding thinking" as a preliminary step before hastily establishing a DMO.

This approach allows us to identify unique challenges, chart the right direction, and cultivate a truly place-rooted organization through encounters with key players who resonate with this vision. Isn't the ideal model one where the DMO emerges not as an organization assembled by external experts to solve problems, but as a natural outcome of next-generation entrepreneurs discovering local value and connecting with each other?

I imagine many are currently grappling with establishing a DMO. Before rushing to launch one, I sincerely hope you'll consider using place branding thinking as a guiding principle.

This concludes our five-part series on place branding. Thank you to everyone who read along. For those eager to start implementing place branding tomorrow, we'd be delighted if you picked up a copy of this book.

Book now available! Details here.